As Congressman Tom Tancredo announced plans to explore a presidential bid – questions are being raised about his ties to Dr. John Tanton, founder of the “Federation for American Immigration Reform”.

An article just appeared in the American Spectator which challenges Tancredo’s pro-Life claims.

Quoting unnamed GOP Congressional Staff members, the Spectator article charges that Dr. John Tanton is a hard-line advocate of eugenics, and a long time supporter of Planned Parenthood’s abortion agenda. Tanton is also a major donor to Tancredo’s congressional campaigns.

The article also quotes from a Wall Street Journal article, in which Jason Riley documented the racist orientation of FAIR – the “Federation for American Immigration Reform”. That group has donated some $15,000 to various Tancredo campaigns over the past ten years. According to Riley, FAIR advocates abortion as a method for controlling the size and power of racial minorities.

There is a lot of interest to this subject here in Idaho – given the close association between Tom Tancredo and Robert Vasquez. Vasquez challenged Congressman Bill Sali last year in the GOP Primary, and is promising to do the same to Sen. Larry Craig next year.

As the 2006 Primary developed, Vasquez’s claims to being pro-Life pretty much melted away as he dealt with his resentments over losing the Idaho Chooses Life endorsement to Sali.

Presumably, Tancredo and Vasquez will remain joined at the hip through the 2008 Primaries. So Tancredo’s politics continue to be of intense interest to Idaho conservatives.

We did a search of Tancredo’s record on abortion. According to the National Right to Life Committee, Tancredo had a 100% pro-Life record during the years 2005-06. (They are about the only handy source of information about congressional voting records; this data should not be read as definitive – as there are many years missing, and probably key votes.)

We were pleased to see that Tancredo supported Terri Schiavo’s right to live; he supported national Parental Consent legislation and he opposed expanded Embryonic Stem Cell Research.

While the Spectator article raises disturbing questions, questions Congressman Tancredo should be asked about while on the presidential campaign trail – it apparently goes too far in challenging Tancredo’s pro-Life values. Guilt by association is almost never fair.